Andrew is from Angleton, Texas. His passion for helping others reach their potential is what makes him such a crucial asset to the MPOWER team. He believes that meeting fitness goals correlates directly to other aspects of life. Andrew worked at a local fitness club instructing bootcamps, and has decided to return to College Station and join the MPOWER team because it is a great platform for him to help more people reach their fitness goals, and achieve a happier and healthier lifestyle. Outside of the gym, he enjoys going to the beach and having fun with friends.

Marina Rae Parker grew up in College Station, TX and has been pursuing her love of dance since she was three through competitive dance in a variety of styles. Marina has always loved teaching and has been assisting dance classes since she was eleven. She decided to continue her dancing career at Sam Houston State University and graduated with honors in May 2015 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance and a minor in General Business. While in college, Marina had the opportunity to learn Creative Movement and has taught at Gibbs Elementary Preschool, Sam Houston State University and now teaches at Holy Cross Learning Center. Marina was also a member and officer of Chi Tau Epsilon Dance Honor Society and had the opportunity to take numerous master classes from a number of distinguished guests. Marina wanted to continue to use her dance training in some form after graduating and had the opportunity to do so through Barre Fitness. She wanted to learn and teach Barre because of the one-of-a-kind work out it gives each individual, while also using some ballet technique and dance related terms and movement. MPOWER provided the chance to fulfill the need of teaching, while also providing a friendly, supportive environment to do so. Marina looks forward to teaching and growing in Barre Fitness with the full support of everyone at MPOWER Fitness. In her spare time Marina enjoys reading many books, going to the movies, playing board games with the family and hanging out with friends.

Although creating financial incentives to lose weight isn't a new idea, now we know cashing in to stay motivated works long-term. In the longest study yet on this topic, Mayo Clinic researchers weighed 100 people monthly for one year, offering half the group $20 per pound lost plus a $20 penalty for every pound gained. Those in the monetary group dropped an average of nine pounds by the end of the year, while non-paid participants shed about two pounds. If you’re ready to gamble away weight, consider sites such as Healthywage, FatBet, or stickK.
Healthy eating is a way of eating that improves your health and helps prevent disease. It means choosing different types of healthy food from all of the food groups (fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy, and proteins), most of the time, in the correct amounts for you. Healthy eating also means not eating a lot of foods with added sugar, sodium (salt), and saturated and trans fats.
Oils. When cooking try to use oils from plants instead of solid fats like butter, margarine, or coconut oil. See this list of oils and fats to see how healthy each type of cooking oil and solid fat is. Most women eat too much solid fat through packaged foods like chips or salad dressing, and not enough healthy fats like olive oil or the type of fat in seafood.
Before you start a juice cleanse diet, know that drastically restricting your caloric intake to drop pounds may backfire: In a 2010 study, women placed on a 1,200-calorie diet for three weeks had elevated levels of cortisol, our primary stress hormone. [Tweet this fact!] Chronic stress has been associated with an increased risk of weight gain as well as coronary heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, cancer, and impaired immune functioning.
Getting enough water also is important. Many experts recommend at least eight 8-ounce glasses of water daily—more if you exercise frequently or are exposed to extremes of heat and cold. The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans emphasize drinking more water and other calorie-free beverages, along with fat-free or low-fat milk and 100 percent fruit juices, instead of calorie-packed regular sodas.
Folate is most important for women of childbearing age. If you plan to have children some day, think of folate now. Folate is a B vitamin needed both before and during pregnancy and can help reduce risk of certain serious common neural tube birth defects (which affect the brain and spinal chord). Women ages 15-45 should include folate in their diet to reduce the risk for birth defects if one becomes pregnant, even if one is not planning a pregnancy.
Most traditional fitness plans happen in predictable patterns that usually involve moving in two planes of motion—up and down or forward and backward—ignoring the third plane of motion, lateral. “Move your body in all directions to create the most fit, functional, and athletic physique,” Stokes says. If you're a runner, cyclist, or walker, remember to include movements such as jumping jacks, side shuffles, side lunges, and carioca (the grapevine-like move) in your warm-up or cool-down, she suggests.

When women reach childbearing age, they need to eat enough folate (or folic acid) to help decrease the risk of birth defects. The requirement for women who are not pregnant is 400 micrograms (mcg) per day. Including adequate amounts of foods that naturally contain folate, such as citrus fruits, leafy greens, beans and peas will help increase your intake of this B vitamin. There also are many foods that are fortified with folic acid, such as breakfast cereals, some rices and breads. Eating a variety of foods is recommended to help meet nutrient needs, but a dietary supplement with folic acid also may be necessary. This is especially true for women who are pregnant or breast-feeding, since their daily need for folate is higher, 600 mcg and 500 mcg per day, respectively. Be sure to check with your physician or a registered dietitian nutritionist before taking any supplements., .

There's not much doubt about this one: Women need more iron than men, because they lose iron with each menstrual period. After menopause, of course, the gap closes. The RDA of iron for premenopausal women is 18 mg a day, for men 8 mg. Men should avoid excess iron. In the presence of an abnormal gene, it can lead to harmful deposits in various organs (hemochromatosis). Since red meat is the richest dietary source of iron, it's just as well that men don't need to wolf down lots of saturated fat to get a lot of iron.
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Grains, vegetables and fruits are essential to getting the vitamins, minerals, complex carbohydrates (starch and dietary fiber) and other nutrients you need to sustain good health. Some of these nutrients may even reduce your risk of certain kinds of cancer. But experts say we rarely eat enough of these foods. To make matters worse, we also eat too much of unhealthy types of food, including fat (and cholesterol), sugar and salt.
Poor nutrition may be one of the easiest conditions to self-diagnose. Look at the food pyramid and the suggested servings. Look at your diet. Are you getting the recommended daily amounts of fruits and vegetables? Enough calcium? Read the labels and compare what you eat to what you need. You may discover that even if your weight is ideal, you are not getting enough nutrition.
If you lose weight suddenly or for unknown reasons, talk to your health care professional immediately. Unexplained weight loss may indicate a serious health condition. And even if it doesn't, simply being underweight is linked to menstrual irregularity, menstrual cessation (and sometimes, as a result, dental problems, such as erosion of the enamel and osteoporosis) and a higher risk of early death.
Rocking out to your fave playlist helps you power through a grueling workout, and now research shows singing, humming, or whistling may be just as beneficial. [Tweet this tip!] A German and Belgian study found that making music—and not just listening to it—could impact exercise performance. People who worked out on machines designed to create music based on their efforts exerted more energy (and didn't even know it) compared to others who used traditional equipment. Sweating to your own tune may help make physical activities less exhausting, researchers say.
Published ten times per year, Women's Health magazine is a premier publication focused on the health, fitness, nutrition, and lifestyles of women. With a circulation of 1.5 million readers, you'll be in good company with a subscription to this successful magazine published by Rodale. From cover to cover, each issue will provide you with tips on improving every aspect of your life.
A 55-year-old woman who gets less than 30 minutes of daily physical activity should eat five ounces of grains; two cups of vegetables; one and a half cups of fruit; three cups of milk; five ounces of meat and beans; five teaspoons of oils, and no more than 130 calories of additional fat and sugar. If she got 30 to 60 minutes of daily exercise, she could increase her intake to six ounces of grains; two and a half cups of vegetables; and up to 265 additional calories of fat and sugar.
Published ten times per year, Women's Health magazine is a premier publication focused on the health, fitness, nutrition, and lifestyles of women. With a circulation of 1.5 million readers, you'll be in good company with a subscription to this successful magazine published by Rodale. From cover to cover, each issue will provide you with tips on improving every aspect of your life.